


Constellations

by SealLullaby



Series: Seasonal Changes [3]
Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Alternate Universe, Character Study, First Date, Fluff, M/M, Romantic Fluff, Stargazing, this is just fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-26
Updated: 2018-04-26
Packaged: 2019-04-28 01:01:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14438067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SealLullaby/pseuds/SealLullaby
Summary: First dates can be hard, but Dash gets some advice.





	Constellations

Dash sat sideways on the sofa, his feet tucked just under one of the cushions. Kwan sat across from him, staring avidly at the television. Ohio State against Miami. Ohio State would inevitably win, of course, but Miami was putting up quite a fight.

Once upon a time, Dash loved to watch football with either Kwan or his dad—his mom was a _football_ football fan and never liked American football. Now, though, watching the games filled him with anxiety. He knew that Kwan had done a lot of work over the summer to be noticed by college recruiters, like going away to a football camp for a week and making a highlights video, but Dash hadn’t so much as talked to a recruiter. He’d been too busy playing catch-up over the summer and improving his abysmal grades in nearly every class. His parents had hired several tutors, so Dash had basically been in summer school without actually going to school. 

“Want some soda?” Dash asked during a commercial break.

Kwan glanced down at his cup. “Nah, I’m good.” He twisted his body around so that he was facing Dash. “So I might actually be going to Miami for football.”

Dash almost did a real-life spit-take. He coughed and said, “Holy shit! Really?” 

Kwan scratched his head. “Well, nothing’s official yet, but I talked to a recruiter, and he said that there was a possibility. I mean, that has to be good, right?”

“Yeah, at least it means you’ve been noticed.”

Kwan shrugged and fiddled with a loose thread on his pants. “I’m sure something will pop up for you,” he said.

Dash sighed. It was only October, and the football season was just getting started. Dash kept telling himself that he had plenty of time. Besides, there were other things to occupy his mind. 

Like Danny. Like what he should do for their first date. Danny insisted that Nasty Burger was their first date, and Dash had been so offended, he’d stopped replying to Danny’s texts for a full day.

“So, hey,” Dash said, changing the subject because he did not want to go down that rabbit hole. He’d been trying to figure out how to bring this up to Kwan in casual conversation for days now, and he figured that there really was no easy way to say it other than, “I’m going on a date with Danny Fenton.” 

After a fair amount of actual choking and a few solid back thumps later, Kwan said, “No fucking way!”

“Yes fucking way,” Dash said.

“When did this happen?” Kwan asked, genuinely curious. Dash couldn’t help but smile. He’d chosen a really good friend, even though he himself acted like a heel towards him way too many times in the past. 

“Uh, last week, after that ghost teacher tried to spank Mr. Lancer.” They both shuddered. “But listen, I need help with date ideas. A dinner and movie aren't going to cut it. Plus, I’m not sure how open he his about going out publicly, you know?”

“Him or you?” Kwan asked, brow raised.

Dash waved a hand. “Him. Me. Whatever. The point is, I need ideas.”

The two men sat in silence for a while. The commercial break ended, but Kwan was only partially paying attention to the television. Finally, he said, “Okay, so my favorite dates involve food. You definitely need food.” Dash nodded. Food. That was a good start. “And you should do stuff that you actually _like_ to do. Maybe show him your favorite hobby or something.”

“Huh,” Dash said, and then they turned their full attention to the game. He needed to ask his mom for help.

  

 

Dash had applied a generous amount of antiperspirant less than an hour ago, but as he sat in the car, he swore he felt his shirt starting to stick to his body. He checked his armpits just to make sure there were no stains and rolled down the driver’s side window just in case. The cool night air blew into his car and helped center him. Dash thanked his lucky stars that the clouds were few and far between tonight. 

The front door of the Fenton house opened, spilling bright light onto their doorstep. Danny hurried out and shut the door quickly behind him. He walked down the steps and opened the passenger door. “Hey, Dash,” he said, sticking his head in before following it with the rest of his body. 

Dash could immediately tell that Danny had tried to tame the wild mop of black that usually was his hair. It didn’t work, some strands refusing to be held down by whatever product he’d tried to use. Danny had foregone his normal, casual attire for something just a little more dressy. He wore dark jeans and a deep blue button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled halfway up his arms. 

“So,” Danny said, snapping his seatbelt on before turning to face him. “Can you finally tell me where we’re going?”

“Nope.” Dash pulled into the street. “You’ll have to find out when we get there.”

Danny sighed. “Fine, whatever. Have it your way.” 

Amity Park was less than a ten-minute drive from Danny’s house. Dash liked to come here with his dog after school sometimes. It was also a popular location for pick-up games and barbecue parties. On Friday nights, however, the park was nearly empty. There was the occasional jogger and dog walker, and some of the town’s homeless residents made crude shelters underneath a bridge on the western edge of the park, but for the most part, Dash and Danny would have the place to themselves. 

Dash parked in a dirt lot and turned off his car. He hopped out and made his way to the trunk, where he pulled out a large cooler and an even larger towel. 

“Oh, are we having a picnic?” Danny asked, appearing over Dash’s shoulder.

“Yup,” Dash said. “Come on, I have the perfect place.” 

They walked deeper into the park and stopped on top of a hill devoid of trees. Danny helped Dash set up the blanket. Dash plopped down and set the cooler aside. He patted the spot next to him when Danny looked unsure. “Have a seat. I want to show you something.” Danny sat beside him and mimicked Dash when the larger boy lay on his back. They were so close that their shoulders brushed.

“My grandma was an astronomer,” Dash started. “When I was a kid, she and my grandpa would take me to this park and we’d stargaze for hours. I thought I’d show you some.”

“That would be amazing,” Danny said. The two turned to look at one another. In the dark, Danny’s eyes seemed to glow with an inner light. He looked so beautiful that Dash felt his breath catch, so he turned his head back to the sky.

“Okay, so let's start with something recognizable.” Dash scanned the stars and spotted his target. He pointed, and then he adjusted his gesture to what was approximately Danny’s point of view. “That’s the Big Dipper right there.”

“I know that one!” Danny said excitedly.

“Did you know that it isn’t actually a constellation? No, I’m not kidding. It’s called an asterism. It’s like an unofficial constellation. But there is a constellation in the Big Dipper. Here, point at the sky for me.” Danny pointed straight up and Dash lifted his own arm to cradle Danny’s hand in his own larger one. Dash then moved Danny’s hand around, pointing out all the major stars in the constellation. “That’s Ursa Major, also called the Great Bear.”

Danny laughed. “That doesn’t look like a bear. Looks more like a giraffe.” 

“I thought the same thing, but my grandma pointed out that most of stargazing is using your imagination. So imagine a big-ass bear with a long tail where the Big Dipper’s handle is, and that pointy part right there is the head.”

Danny was silent for a moment. “Hm, I guess I can see it,” he said.

“There’s a million myths behind this constellation. It’s present in most major cultures, and people think that the history behind Ursa Major spans back before people started writing.” Dash then moved their joined hands further above the Big Dipper. “Okay, you see that really bright star right there? That’s Polaris. It’s the North Star. It’s actually two stars but we only see one. That’s the star that old-time sailors used to navigate because it doesn’t really move like the other stars do.”

“Why?” Danny asked.

“Because it’s right above the Earth’s axis.”

He shifted their joined hands and started pointing out other prominent stars and constellations. Half an hour later, when their arm muscles were strained and shaking from overuse, Dash decided to take a break for dinner.

He’d enlisted his mom's help in making sandwiches, a variety of different types of salads, and chocolate chip cookies. She’d been more than happy to be involved in his date idea. Dash suspected that she felt guilty over her behavior in the past, thinking that her not spending much time with him in his formative years somehow led to the sophomore homecoming incident. Dash didn’t blame her, though. He knew his parent loved him (even though they were going overboard with this whole parenting thing right now).

While munching on a sandwich, Danny said, “You know a lot about this stuff. Are you in the astronomy club at school?” 

Dash shook his head. “Nah, it’s just some stuff my grandma taught me. It just stuck in my head, I guess.” 

“It doesn’t seem like ‘just some stuff’ to me. You sound like you really like it,” Danny said. “Have you thought about doing this as a job. Like going to college for it?”

Dash frowned. “What could I possibly do as an astronomer?” He’d always assumed that he’d be playing football until he broke some vital part of his body. Everyone said that he was a sports prodigy. He’d played every sport that Casper High offered—baseball, basketball, rugby, you name it—but his football coach told him that he was heading for the big leagues once high school was over if he settled for football, so he did. But the mounting pressure to do better, to be perfect, to stand out was ruining his enjoyment of the sport. He only played now because he was _good_ at it, not because he liked it. 

“I don’t know,” Danny said, bringing Dash out of his own head. “You can discover new planets and stars! Maybe you’ll find aliens.” At Dash’s skeptical look, Danny said, “I’m just saying.” 

Once they finished their dinner—Dash didn’t know where Danny put it all, but the boy had eaten two sandwiches, an entire container of potato salad, and seven cookies—Dash lay on his back. 

He closed his eyes as Danny talked about Lancer’s homework assignment. The cool night air brushed across his skin. The cicada played their shrill music, and Dash heard the faint sound of nocturnal bird calls. Dash turned his head, opening his eyes so that he could gaze at Danny, who was gesturing wildly at the night sky, denouncing their latest book for being “boring as hell.” Dash grunted in agreement.

Danny, who’d been sitting beside him, twisted his body to peer down at him. “You know what I just realized?” Without giving Dash a chance to answer, Danny continued, “You never told me what your favorite constellation was.”

Dash considered it. He turned his gaze to the vast expanse of the night sky. The park was, save the faint glow of skyscrapers in the distance, fairly dark, affording them the chance to see a few more stars that would otherwise be invisible in Dash’s backyard. One day, he’d love to camp in the Badlands National Park just so he could look at a sky clear of light pollution.

“I don’t think you can see it right now, but my favorite is probably the Andromeda constellation,” he said. “You know the myth, right?”

Danny hummed thoughtfully. “Is it the one where a girl’s parents chained her to a rock so she’d be eaten by a monster?” The surprise must have shown on Dash’s face. Danny said, “My dad loves _Clash of the Titans,_ the one with Maggie Smith. He’s made me watch it at least four times. So why’s it your favorite?”

“I just like the myth, I guess. It’s probably the happiest Greek myth I’ve ever heard. Nobody even dies, except a monster, I guess. Plus, the constellation is right next to the Andromeda Galaxy, and one day our galaxy is going to collide with that one and make one super galaxy. That’s kind of crazy, isn’t it?”

Danny laughed. “Yeah, it kind of is.” He looked up, and then, in a soft tone, said, “Don’t take this the wrong way, but I always thought you were just some dumb jock that was obsessed with sports and didn’t really care about anything else.”

A fissure of embarrassment shot through him. “Well, I kind of was?” Really, obsessed was putting it lightly. 

Danny shook his head and leaned slightly over Dash, supporting his weight on his left hand so that he could brush his right through Dash’s cropped hair. “No, I think I was wrong.” Dash was glad that it was dark enough so Danny couldn’t see the blush that crawled up Dash’s cheeks at the touch. His mouth went dry as Danny wiggled so that he was propped further against him. “I’d kind of like to kiss you right now if that’s okay with you.”

Dash couldn’t nod fast enough. He licked his lips. They felt chapped. Oh god, what if Danny didn’t like his chapped lips? He should have put on some chapstick along with deodorant. But it was too late for that now. 

Danny tilted his head lower and pressed his lips against Dash’s own. They were warm and a little chapped, too. Dash’s heart _pounded_. Surely Danny could feel it as well with the way his chest was pressed against Dash's chest. Dash angled his head so that their lips better slotted together. He didn’t know what to do with his hands, so he left them clutching the blanket below him. Danny, however, wrapped his palm around the side of Dash’s neck, scratching the base of his skull softly. A full-bodied shudder wracked Dash’s frame. In response, Danny groaned, opening his mouth slightly so his tongue could swipe at Dash’s bottom lip. Dash responded in kind. The night was cold, but his skin felt burning hot where Danny touched him. It radiated out, all the way down to his toes as they curled in his shoes. 

They pulled apart and stared at each other. Danny’s cheeks were pink. Dash felt warm all over despite the cool air. He wanted to say something eloquent and witty like Humphrey Bogart does after he kisses the girl, except Danny wasn’t a girl and Dash was far from Bogart, so all that came out was, “Uhhh.”

Danny grinned. “Not bad for our first kiss.” Somewhere in that statement was the promise of more kisses to come. Dash couldn’t wait. 

 

 

It was on the way back that things took a turn for the worse. Dash was still soaring high from their make-out session in the park. The radio was blaring an upbeat pop song he’d never heard before but that captured his mood perfectly. Dash had the hood of his car down, and Danny was trying to talk over the combined noise of the radio and the wind.

“My dad’s the one who got me into football. He was a linebacker in college, and he still goes to their games at least once a season,” Dash said. “My coaches always said I was built for it, even in the pee-wee league.”

“My parents are die-hard Packers fans. My dad even has that dumb cheese hat,” Danny said.

“I take it you aren’t as big a fan?” Dash asked.

“I’m not really into football. I mean, those guys are literally destroying their brains, aren’t they?”

Dash turned his head to stare intently at the road. “Yeah.” 

The pop song morphed into a darker piece, heavy with base and a little melancholy. Dash’s gaze flitted across the car. His eyes met Danny’s bright blue ones, and he opened his mouth to speak when I green blur flashed out of the corner of his eyes. He snapped his head around just in time to twist the steering wheel away from the path of a fucking _ghost_. His car jerked left and right, spinning out of control as Dash pumped on the brakes. 

The next few moments were a blur. He heard Danny scream. He heard the crunch of the tires as they skidded from the road and onto the sidewalk, and he felt a pressure on his chest that felt like Danny’s hand. When his brain came back online, his car had planted itself in the bushes that lined the other side of the sidewalk. 

His heart was almost beating out of his chest, but Dash’s first order of business was to check on Danny. The boy was breathing hard next to him, his face white as a sheet. Dash tore his seat belt off and turned to him, pressing the palm of his hands against Danny’s cold cheeks and guided his head towards Dash. “Danny, are you okay?” 

Danny’s eyes met his, and for the briefest moment, they seemed to flash an angry green. “Yeah,” Danny finally said, rubbing his chest. 

“I’m so sorry,” Dash said. His voice shook a little because _what the hell?_ They could have died. He should have just run into the damn ghost. It was already dead. “I’m so sorry, Danny.”

Danny unbuckled his own seat belt and threw his arms around Dash. He blinked at the unexpected gesture, but he wrapped his arms tightly around Danny, almost pulling the other boy out of his seat. “I’m going to end that damn ghost,” Danny hissed against his neck. He pulled away, and his eyes darted all over Dash’s face. “Are _you_ okay?”

“I’m fine,” Dash said, breathing deeply. There wasn’t any other car in sight, so with shaky hands, he shifted the car into reverse and backed out of the bushes. Everything seemed to be in working order. 

“We should go to my house. It’s closer,” Danny said. Dash agreed because he was too unsteady to be on the road for too long.

During the rest of the drive, Danny kept a firm grip on Dash’s arm. 

  

 

“These ghosts are running amok. Amok, Mattie!” Danny’s dad had bellowed after learning about the near-accident. Danny’s parents had insisted on checking Dash’s car over after they brought it back to Danny’s house, so the two teens were hanging out in Danny’s bedroom with the door open because Danny had already told his parents that they’d gone on a date and Mrs. Fenton was scary when she was stern. 

“Some date, huh?” Dash said ruefully, leaning against Danny’s bed. 

Danny punched Dash’s arm from his seat next to him. “Stop that. Just pretend everything after the park never happened.”

“Easy for you to say,” Dash grumbled.

“Actually, yes. It is. Thank you for such an awesome date.” Danny pressed his lips against Dash’s cheek in a quick kiss. “Next time, it’s my turn.”

**Author's Note:**

> This has been sitting on my computer for months, and I decided to just post it without giving it another read-through, so apologies for any typos. 
> 
> This is literally just fluff. I don't know where I'm going with this story. I really don't.


End file.
